


The Real Fight Starts After

by memoryrebel



Category: Avengers
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Recovery, Why Did I Write This?, because i am a horrible person, collapsed building, why do i do this to them?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 10:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/861015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memoryrebel/pseuds/memoryrebel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When bombs are planted in buildings scattered through New York, it's the Avengers to the rescue. Unfortunately, they don't reach one in time, and three of their own are stuck beneath the rubble. The team above must race against the clock to get them out before it's too late. But, once they're out, that's when the real fight for survival begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Real Fight Starts After

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is based, or I guess a rewrite, or a fic on fanfiction.net called Never Say Goodbye.  
> I just loved it so much I had to write my own version.  
> Also I own nothing, so please don't sue me.

The day had started out so normal, that Clint couldn't help but be shocked when it took a turn of events.

They had all been relaxing at home, him snuggling with Natasha on the floor, Tony on the couch with Pepper resting her head on his shoulder, Steve on the couch with them, and Bruce and Thor in seperate armchairs, watching a James Bond movie. Then they got the call.

"Avengers are needed at SHIELD base ASAP." came Fury's voice over Jarvis' intercom. The team collectively sighed, stood, Tony kissing Pepper quickly saying he'd be back soon, and they all left.

Unfortunately, Tony had been wrong about being back soon.

It had turned out that there were bombs scattered across New York city, in building, no particular pattern, making it hard to find every single one. The city was quickly evacuated of every resident, and the team got to work. They got most of the bombs out in time, but three buildings went down. One building, had three of the team stuck inside.

***

Clint coughed, and white powder flew in the air. His usually light brown hair was nearly white, and the urge to sneeze was ever present in his nose. He turned his head to the left, and pain shot up his spine, that scared the hell out of him. He soon found that he could in fact move, thank heavens, but his left hip and leg appeared to be broken, and the slightest movement caused a burst of agony to cloud his vision.

"Bruce?" he called out, and coughing as the white dust grated against his throat, "Tony?"

No answer.

He was silent for a moment as he leaned his head back on the floor and closed his eyes. Then he heard a faint scuffling noise, and soon pained whimpers following. Clint took a deep breath, and pulled himself over onto his stomach, and half crawled half dragged himself in the direction of the noise. He found Tony on the other side of a pile of rubble. His friend was stuck under a giant slab of concrete, keeping only from crushing him by a metal girder. If the girder fell or slipped Tony would be crushed. He was pushing his hand against, making small pained noises, and thrashing around. Clint could tell he wasnt in this world at the moment. As Clint pulled himself closer, he found that Tony's right hand were stuck under part of the slab of conrete he was under. Clint finally reached him and lay down beside him on his left side, gently grabbing the hand that was pushing against the girder.

"Tony, it's me. It's Clint." He used his hand to hold himself up on his elbow, and dropped Tony's in his other, where it fell to the ground beside him.

"Clint?"

"Yeah. Lets try to get you out of there, huh?"

"No." Tony swallowed painfully before he continued, "Not safe."

Clint looked at Tony for a moment, before nodding, "I'll go find Bruce okay?"

Tony closed his eyes and nodded. Clint looked around, and spotted Bruce not far from where Tony was pinned, but only half of him was in sight from around another pile of rubble. Clint made his way, slowly and painfully, over to Bruce. He thought Bruce was unconscious, but when he plopped onto the ground with a short cry of agony, he hear Bruce mumble, "Hip?"

Clint smiled slightly despite himself, and nodded, "You always know."

Bruce lifted his head and looked around, "What happened?"

"Bomb went off, building collapsed."

"Oh yeah." He jerked his leg free from where it was stuck with a grunt of pain, "Great, broke my ankle."

"You gonna be alright to walk?" When Bruce nodded, Clint continued, "You gotta come see Tony, he's stuck under something, and it's bad."

Clint helped him up, and they proceeded to help eachother back over to Tony. When they reached him again, Tony was thrashing deliriously again, and had managed to free his right hand. It didn't look to mangled, except for two possibly broken fingers. Bruce sat down near his head on his left side, and Clint on his other. Bruce rubbed a hand over his forehead to calm him down.

"Tony you need to stop thrashing around, it's okay."

Tony calmed down slightly, "Bruce?"

"Yeah. It's alright."

"No. No it's not." Tony shook his head, and Bruce just calmed him down again.

"Yes, it is." he said firmly.

Tony was silent after that, and Clint thought he had lapsed into unconsciousness again. Clint watched Bruce look over Tony. The doctor slid his hand under the girder and looked at it. Clint heard him mumble, "Shit."

"What?" Clint questioned.

"The girder is keeping the cement from crushing him, which I am sure you've noticed. But it hit his side hard enough to cut, and it's in his left side. The only thing keeping him from bleeding out right now, is the thing we would have to remove to help him." Bruce rested his elbows on his crossed knees and his face in his hands.

"How long do you think it would take to run out of oxygen?"

"Our injuries would kill us before we would have to worry about oxygen."

"How long do you think the injuries would take?"

"I don't think I need to worry about mine, as far as the ones I know of... You have a few broken ribs, as well as your hip and leg, and from the looks of it, you punctured a lung judging by the blood you just coughed up," Clint looked at his hand as he moved it away from his mouth, and Bruce continued, "So probably eight to ten hours for you."

"And Tony?"

Bruce sighed, "An hour, maybe two."

"Bruce?"

They both looked down when they heard Tony's hoarse voice, followed by a cough.

"Bruce... I-I'm cold."

"I know." Bruce knew Tony was cold because of blood loss, and there was nothing he could do about it.

They were all silent for a while, Tony seeming to be unconscious again, and the other two just having nothing to say. Then, they heard a faint staticy sound. Bruce lifted his head, and got up with a grunt of pain. He limped toward where he thought he heard the noise coming from. It was near where Clint had first woken up where Bruce found a headset. He came over to them and sat back down. The static sound stopped and a voice came over the earpierce.

"Bruce? Tony? Clint?" That was Steve!

"Steve? Steve! Can you hear me?" Clint shouted over the comm.

"Yeah! Are you guys alright?" Steve's frantic voice responded through the static.

"Just peachy." came Tony's voice again, followed by a cough. He had apprently rejoined the conversation without anybody noticing, again.

"Just hang on, we'll get you guys out. It should take a few hours."

Bruce looked down at Tony, who was unconsious yet again. Bruce held the comm and took a sigh, "Steve, we might not have a few hours."

"What?"

"I seem to be able to last, Clint should be okay for a little while, but Tony just doesn't have a few hours."

"How long?" came Steve's tight reply.

"Half and hour, maybe forty-five minutes if he's strong, an hour if he's lucky."

"Alright, we'll get you out. All of you." He emphasized the "all", before the comm stopped and was silent again.

Bruce sighed again as he set it down beside him. Clint was trying to stop Tony from thrashing again, clearly not with them at the moment. He was muttering "no" silently as he swatted away Clint's hands trying to help him. Bruce was about to help calm him down, when Tony jerked awake again. He coughed for about a minute, his lungs having the white residue inside them. His was paler then he had been a moment ago was shivering. 

"Bruce?" he asked, his voice strained and his eyes taking a minute to focus on Banner, "A-are we... g-gonna die?"

Tony was struggling to get the words out as he tried to not lose consciousness again. Bruce didn't think he or Clint would, but Tony he wasn't so sure. He wasn't above telling a patient they wouldn't make it, but he couldn't tell that to a friend. "Hey buddy, you're gonna die." How could he say something like that to one of the only friends he had ever had, especially since he'd become that monster. So, he simply replied,

"No."

Tony laid his head back and closed his eyes, but Bruce could tell he hadn't lapsed into the void again. They all sat in silence until Clint spoke up.

"I miss my parents," he said, just trying to fill the silence," I can barely even remember them, but I miss them. They died when I was little, and I always wonder how life would be different if I hadn't lost them in that stupid car crash."

"My parents..."Tony swallowed painfully, "My parents died in a cr-crash too."

Clint looked at him, "Really?"

Tony nodded, as he grit his teeth.

Bruce sighed, "I would say I wish I had never done that experiment with that made me the monster, and sometimes I do, but times I actually don't. Sure, I would still have Elizabeth, and maybe even a normal life, or at least more normal than this... But then I wouldn't have you guys."

"I can't stand looking at Steve. I want," Tony stopped as more coughs racked his body, and Bruce could see that more blood came from his side as he did, "I want to... to hate him."

"Why?" questioned Clint.

"Becau-because my dad loved... loved him more than me. I would ha-have given anything to have my dad care about m-me like...that." Tony said quietly.

Bruce could tell it was getting harder for him to even talk, and Bruce didn't know it was possible, but Tony looked paler, he also looked like he was having trouble staying awake. And they needed to keep him awake, because at this point, Bruce didn't know if Tony would wake back up.

The building rumbled then, only slightly. But it was enough to make the concrete slide a just a little bit, and Tony screamed in pain as the slab crushed his legs. He squeezed his eyes shut, and clenched his jaw and fists. Bruce looked up, leaning to the side as a rock fell, nearly hititng him. He hoped the rumbling was coming from machines that would be able to get them out, he also hoped it wouldn't make the remainder of the building come crashing down on them. Bruce leaned down so he could see Tony's face better. Pain was etched into every feature on his face, and Bruce tapped his cheek gently. He opened his eyes at the touch on his face and looked around for a moment, confused, then focused on Banner.

"You need to stay awake, Tony." He said, firmly was as reassuringly as he could sound.

"It hurts." he whined as he closed his eyes again, but opened them slowly as Bruce tapped his face.

"I know, but you need to stay awake." He emphasized the "need" hoping Tony would get the message.

Tony nodded slightly, so slightly Bruce almost missed it. Then the static came back again, anf Steve was on the other end again.

"Bruce, they are gonna start digging now. Can you tell us about where you are?"

"We were almost near the entrance, probably about a 150 yards out."

"Gotcha!"

"And Steve!" he called before Steve could go.

"Tell them to be careful with those machines! Rocks are falling, they could cause what is left standing to crush us!'

"Sorry! I'll make sure they're careful." then static and the silence was back.

Bruce looked back at Clint and Tony. Clint looked awful, blood flecked his lips and his hand was covered in it. His leg wsa spread out in front of him, and even the slightest movement made him wince in pain. But, they were close, the rescue team would get them out soon. Clint would live as long as they got out soon, no question about it so long as he had no other injuries that Bruce was missing. But Tony kept closing his eyes every thirty seconds or so and Bruce had to keep waking him up, he was losing color, he was shivering, coughing every now and again although even his coughs were getting weaker. And Bruce didn't know how long it would take them to find them, or much longer Tony had.

They were all quiet for what seemed like an eternity, Clint resting against a pile of rocks, in the most painless position he could make, and Bruce was still sitting beside Tony, making sure he didn't fall asleep. The time thinking to himself, "I won't lose you buddy."

Clint spoke up after more silence ensued, "I think I hear them."

Bruce listened closer, and heard it. It was faint, but it was there, the sound of rocks moving a little bit to the left. Dust fell from the ceiling, but nothing big and dangerous fell. Tony shook his head and jerked his body slightly, he was mumbling something under his breath, so Bruce shook him awake gently.

"Try to stay awake, please Tony. I need you too!"

Tony closed his eyes, but nodded stiffly. His breathing was coming in short, shallow breaths as he struggled to hang on.

Silence fell over the cavern again, except for the low far off rumble, and Tony's gasping breath.

After another few minutes, and then Tony broke the silence.

"I... it doesnt h-hurt anymore. Th-t-the pain is... gone." He said in a small, shaky voice. Bruce could see fear in his eyes as he continued to struggle for breath.

Bruce closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, Clint was looking at him with concern in his eyes. Bruce stood and went around the corner of the rubble pile with the earpiece. He worked on it till he got a answer.

"Anybody there?" he asked over the comm.

"Bruce?" That was Natasha, her voice riddled with worry, "Are you guys okay? How's Clint? Is he ok?"

"Tasha. Tasha!" He said, and when she stopped he continued, "Clint will make it out, I am sure of it, okay?"

"Ok." she sighed.

"How much longer?"

"I don't know, shouldn't be long. Why? What's wrong?" Her stoic, emotionless voice was back.

"Tony doesn't have a lot of time, Natasha. He..."Bruce took a deep breath, "He's dying. He doesn't feel the pain anymore, he is dying."

There was silence, then, "How long?" came the reply, sadness and fear leaking in. 

"Minutes."

"We'll get you out, all of you." she said, her words a very epitome of what Steve had said earlier.

"Bruce!"

Banner got up and limped back toward the others at Clint's frantic shout, "What? What's wrong?!"

"He fell asleep and he isn't waking back up."

Bruce sat down beside his friends, and leaned in to look at Tony despite the pain it caused his ankle.

"Tony?!"

No response.

They sat there for several minutes trying to wake him up, but he just wouldn't. They had let him lose his consciousness, and now he might never get it back.

"The important thing is... He is breathing." Bruce said.

Granted, the breaths were small and far between, but they were there and that is what mattered. Banner and Barton sat there helpless as their friend died, silent, just hoping the rescue would get here soon.

Then, part of the unsteady roof came tumbling down, causing other little rocks to fall, but none that were a danger. Sunlight shone in, and the other three avengers that had been above ground came running down the pile of rubble, followed by, thankfully, paramedics. Natasha ran to Clint, promptly wrapping him in a hug. Thor and Steve stopped in their tracks when they saw Tony, and Steve ran off to get people to get him out. Natasha and a few medics helped move Clint out of the way so they could lift the girder and get Tony out.

Once he was out, they wrapped something around his torso to keep the cut from bleeding anymore. It was deeper than Bruce had first thought, and he had thought it pretty deep. The doctors checked for a pulse, and finding none, they pulled out there rececitators.

"Clear!"

Nothing.

"Clear!"

Nothing.

"Clear!"

A medic felt for a pulse on Tony's wrist, then said, "I got a weak one. Let's get him out of here."

They put that brace on his back to keep his spine from moving, not knowing if there was any damage to it, put him on a gurney, and rolled him out and up, to the SHIELD med bay.

***

Now the real battle begins. The fight for survival.


End file.
